VIA's Parker offered Atlanta job

By Vianna Davila :
October 4, 2012
: Updated: October 5, 2012 12:59am

VIA's President and CEO Keith Parker was selected Thursday night to lead Atlanta's public transit agency, the ninth largest in the nation and one showing signs of trouble.

Parker did not immediately accept the job and plans to meet with the VIA Board of Trustees at a special meeting early next week to discuss it, according to an email sent to the board shortly after the vote in Atlanta.

“We strongly believe that Keith Parker is the best choice for MARTA,” said MARTA board Chairman Frederick L. Daniels Jr. in a statement Thursday. “We are extremely proud of the work we have done to this point, and we are very confident that we have picked the right man, for the right job at the right time.”

After learning of Parker's selection, VIA Board Chairman Henry Muñoz III said Atlanta is a great opportunity but that the board should fight to keep him in San Antonio because he's been “a terrific partner” who “helped to bring about a 21st-century multimodal VIA.”

“I think everybody on the board would be interested in proposing a counteroffer for him to stay with us,” he said.

But some VIA board members were preparing for his possible departure, even as they praised Parker's accomplishments in his three-year tenure with the agency, including funding of a downtown streetcar system.

“I think he's ready to move on,” said VIA Trustee Gavino Ramos, who voted to hire Parker. “I don't think you let your name go that long in the process if you're not ready to move on.”

If Parker accepts Atlanta's offer, he will walk into a job that likely comes with greater expectations, demands and problems.

He would have the chance to shine at a much larger, higher-profile agency. MARTA dwarfs VIA in size, with a $435 million operating budget compared with VIA's $176.9 million. MARTA's service area is nearly 2,000 square miles, almost five times larger than that of VIA. It would be a big move for Parker, 46, already a highly respected talent in the transportation world.

But he would also have to tackle MARTA's long list of recent struggles.

Facing a budget shortfall and increasing pressure from legislators to privatize functions, MARTA is also reeling from voters shooting down its sales tax increase this summer.

The troubles have worsened. Last week, an audit showed the agency spent dramatically more than other transit agencies on labor and benefits. This week, MARTA came under fire again for allegations that the board violated open meetings laws and that a board member forged a document to prove it was in compliance with those laws.

According to a complaint filed by a Georgia state representative, board member Barbara Babbit Kaufman sent an email in September to the rest of the board in order to solicit who they planned to choose for the CEO position.

She said she didn't intentionally violate any laws.

On Thursday, board member Wendy Butler declined to vote, and another board member, Adam Orkin, was not at the meeting, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Orkin said in an email, the paper reported, that he supported the other finalist, Steve Bland, head of the Pittsburgh-area port authority.

Now, Parker must decide if he wants to continue modernizing San Antonio's transit system or deal with the “numerous challenges that MARTA presents,” said VIA Trustee Gerald Lee. “For someone of Keith's caliber, maybe it's the challenge of doing that, the challenge of turning around a large MTA (metropolitan transit agency),” Lee said.

Parker's salary and contract, should he accept, are still to be negotiated, Harris said. But he likely will be paid more. Atlanta's current CEO makes more than $370,000 a year in total compensation. With bonuses, Parker makes about $310,000; his base salary is $285,000, according to his five-year contract.

Neither Lee nor Ramos addressed the possibility of trying to secure a raise for Parker to keep him at VIA.

Parker arrived in San Antonio from Charlotte, N.C., to much fanfare in 2009. Many viewed him as the person who could help realize a new kind of VIA, one with a multimodal system, whose riders choose to use public transit even if they own a personal vehicle.

During his tenure, bus ridership increased and VIA received millions in federal grants. Parker also helped secure money for the streetcar system, which could be built by 2016. The agency is also set to start a bus rapid transit line and open two new transit terminals in late December.

It's not clear if Parker would remain at VIA to see those launched should he take the Atlanta job. MARTA's current CEO Beverly Scott steps down at the end of this year.

Whatever his decision, Lee said, the agency is in a good place, partly because of the people Parker hired. Ramos noted that VIA also enjoys strong support from the mayor, the county judge and from Muñoz, though the latter has said he doesn't plan to stay on as VIA chairman after his term ends later this year.

Even if Parker chooses to leave, Lee said the agency will continue to pursue its mission and transform VIA into a multimodal agency that offers more than just bus service.

While Lee personally would love for Parker to stay, “VIA's going to continue to be successful with or without Keith Parker.”